The Grill and Bar
by Malfoy218
Summary: Draco fled the the Wizarding World twelve years ago and has been working as a waiter in a restaurant in muggle London. Harry has been depressed ever since he defeated Voldemort. What will happen when he stumbles upon Draco years later. Half Blood Prince compliant. Some Deathly Hollows compliant. I don't own any of the Harry Potter Characters they belong to the mind of J.K. Rowling


Chapter One: The Meeting

It was a lovely sunny Friday morning in May as Harry walked out into the kitchen. He was greeted by his two best friends, Ron and Hermione Weasley.

"Hey mate, it's nice to see you up and about today," Ron greeted. Harry just grunted and sat down at the table. Harry had been living in a flat with Ron and Hermione ever since he had defeated Voldemort ten years ago. He couldn't bring himself to live in Sirius's old house since it held to many memories of the man and the members of the order lost in the final battle.

"So, what do you want to do today, Harry?" Hermione asked, but was answered by another grunt from Harry. "HARRY JAMES POTTER, you can't stay in this flat forever!" Hermione yelled.

Once he had defeated Voldemort, Harry had removed himself from the prying eyes of wizarding society. At first Ron and Hermione thought that he just needed time to mourn the deaths of all the people lost in the second Wizarding War but the more he hid himself away the more concerned they became. Hermione was convinced he had become depressed since he spent most of his time lying around the flat either sleeping or starting unseeingly at the television but rarely taking the time to venture outside. Hermione was beginning to think that if her and Ron didn't do something about Harry's behavior, he may become suicidal. Therefore, for the last month, Hermione would try to no avail to get Harry to leave the flat.

Harry, however, felt that since Ron and Hermione would often be at work or out of the flat it shouldn't really matter whether he went out or not. Harry had even told Hermione this about a week ago but she simply told him that was no excuse for his behavior. She had also added that in three month's time there would be a screaming baby in the house and she thought that it would be good for Harry to get aquatinted with restaurants and even some people in the area in order to have somewhere to escape to when the baby became too much to handle for Harry's ears.

Hermione and Ron were expecting their first child in three months and knew with Harry's behavior, that a baby constantly crying might push him over the edge. This is why they tried so hard to get him out of the house and get him to be more social so he would have and outlet for when the baby was born. It's not that they would kick him out, they would never do that because he was part of the family but they knew that a baby was a lot of work and didn't want it to add to Harry's already somber mood.

"Mione just leave him alone," Ron said with a sigh. He knew that the more she pestered Harry he would eventually lose his temper. And judging by the way his brows started to furrow more in frustration, Ron knew he was right but his concerned wife didn't seem to notice any of this and pushed on.

"Ronald this has to stop. It was okay for the first year after the war had ended but now it is becoming a problem. He's been like this for ten years now. Lying around in his sweatpants all day doing nothing. He has no job to go to unless he gets paid to sit in front of a television screen all day. He needs to get out of this house and move on. It's like his mind is stuck in the past and refuses to leave. It's unhealthy to lay around all day doing nothing but wasting away. DO YOU HEAR ME HARRY?" Hermione had turned now to face Harry and yelled the last part at him. But he just sat there and stared off into space as if he hadn't heard her at all.

Now it's not like Harry wasn't well off and needed to work. He was one of the richest wizards in the world. His amount of gold rivaled the queen of England's. He was not only the heir to the Potter fortune but the Black fortune as well and Dumbledore had named him his heir before he died and he had received a great deal of that fortune as well. He didn't want to take it at all but Aberforth had insisted since it was his brother's last wish before he died. Harry said he would only claim the title if he could make sure that Aberforth would have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of his life to which he agreed.

Hermione had simply meant that Harry should find some type of hobby to occupy his time. But her suggestions of things he could do to occupy his day always fell on deaf ears.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER, you get your arse out of this house today or so help me I will kick you out!" Hermione yelled. Of course, she had no intention of kicking him out but she was at her wits end with what to do with his behavior. Harry on the other hand had had enough of being screamed at yelled, "You know what Hermione it is my life and I will live it as I want," then he got up, walked to his bedroom and slammed the door behind him.

Once in his room, Harry pulled a box out of his night stand draw filled with newspaper clippings he had saved after Voldemort's death. As he started looking through them a tear fell down his cheek when he saw Ginny's obituary. She had died in the final battel by blocking a curse that had been sent at him by Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry continued looking through the newspaper clippings and smiled when he found the article that proved Severus Snape's innocence. It had turned out that that Snape had been following orders from Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower that night in his sixth year. Harry also found out about a secrete meeting between Snape and his parents before they died through one of Snape's memories he had watched before going to meet Voldemort. In this memory he watched as his parents and Snape had forgiven each other for all that had gone on between them. Lily had decided that Severus working for the order as a spy back then had redeemed him for his actions when he was a teen. She got James to apologize for how petty and cruel he was back then and Snape had done the same. They shook hands and Lily had surprised Severus even further by naming him Harry's second godfather.

She told Severus that he would need to keep it a secret and treat Harry as he had his father when they were younger in order to keep his role as spy for the order from Voldemort and to protect Harry. After the final battel, Madame Pomphrey was able to find an antidote to Nigini's poisonous bite and heal Snape. He found Harry and apologize for the way he treated him. Harry got to know his godfather and they ended up becoming quite close. Harry now considered him to be the only father figure he had left in his life.

Then Harry's eyes dropped to the next article and he shudder. It was the article the prophet had wrote after all the remaining Death Eaters had been captured and it was about Draco Malfoy. It stated that Draco Malfoy had still been missing since he had fled from Hogwarts the night the Death Eaters had been let into the school. No one had a clue where he was or if he was even alive. No one had known that it was Draco Malfoy who had let the Death Eaters into the school except Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Snape of course. Harry had made sure during the trials for the Death Eaters that Draco's name was not among them. He had made sure that Draco's name would be cleared of any suspected involvement of Death Eater activity during the second war. It was only at the end of the war that Harry realized he had always been attracted to boys and Draco in particular. He had asked Severus if he knew where Draco had run off too after they left the castle that night, but Severus had said that they were at Malfoy Manor for a month before Draco had just up and disappeared.

As Harry looked through the rest of the newspaper clippings he had collected but his mind kept going back to Draco and where he might be, if he was dead or alive. He didn't know when he had started crying but quickly wiped the tears away. '_Maybe Hermione's right, I should get out_,' Harry thought. So, he proceeded to take a shower and try to somewhat tame his mess of hair, get dressed, grabbed his coat and give a quick goodbye to Hermione and head out the door to the busy streets of muggle London. Too shocked to say anything, Hermione nodded her goodbye and watched her best friend finally start to return to the Harry Potter she had met all those years ago.

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Draco Malfoy walked out of his bedroom and onto his balcony and looked at the busy muggle street below him. He sighed and went back into his room. Grabbing his waiter uniform he dressed, grabbed a quick bite and left for his job. After what happened in his sixth year, Draco knew he could no longer be a Death Eater. He had decided he wanted to change. He wanted to be the Draco that no one knew, the Draco that he had showed only to his parents. So, after a month of hiding out at the manor, Draco left and went to the muggle world telling no one not even his parents. And he had made a good life for himself. He worked fulltime as a waiter at a small London restaurant called The Grill and Bar, and owned a nice little flat. Mind you it wasn't much but it was enough for him. He also made it a point to use no magic, unless it was absolutely necessary.

When Draco arrived at The Grill and Bar, his manager Todd came over to him.

"Hey Drake, clock on because we will be getting busy pretty soon," Todd said. Draco nodded and went to clock in. He went under the name Drake just in case someone from the wizarding world ever came in. Draco had changed a lot in the past ten years. He no longer had the pointed features he was known for in school. His appearance now gave him the look of someone who was older then they appeared to be, and he was no longer the skinny boy he used to be either, he had a six pack and muscular arms that he got from working out at a local gym when he wasn't working. He had grown out his hair and it now reached his shoulders although when at work he put it in a pony to keep the hair out of his face. He also used a glamour to darken his platinum blonde locks and change his icy silver-blue eyes to a deep ocean sea blue. From far away no one would ever recognized him but up close, Draco couldn't be sure but Draco didn't care how he appeared to be to others, he was happy in his new life.

Once Draco clocked in, he walked up to the host stand to take a look at his section. He smiled when he saw that he had six tables knowing that Todd gave him the most because he was the strongest server. Happy he walked over to his section making sure that everything was in order. As Draco was checking over his tables the rush began to start.

Four hours later Todd came up to Draco with stress written all over his face. "Listen Drake I know you have a full section but could you go take the guy sitting at table 69? He's been there for five minutes and Meg hasn't had a chance to go over there."

"Yeah no problem," Draco said grabbing a set of silverware and made his way over to the table with the black-haired man sitting at. For a moment emerald green eyes flashed into his mind but he quickly shook the thought away. '_Well he looks good-looking_,' Draco thought. Yes, he was gay. Draco had realized after the incident in the bathroom in his sixth year with Harry Potter, that he always seemed to gravitated toward Potter, whether it was calling him names or getting into physical altercations with him, he could never seem to stay away from Harry Potter. So, while he was lying in his hospital bed back then he had realized that his feelings toward Harry Potter had been more then just hate. He always got a thrill from the attention that Harry would give him when he'd pick fights and he would always fantasize about new ways to torment his nemesis. He even found himself liking the way Harry would grab or touch him during their altercations and that's when he knew for sure that he was gay and possibly somewhat obsessed with Boy Wonder.

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Harry walked out of the flat and had decided he was going to muggle London to eat. When he arrived, he looked around at the various restaurants and walked over to the one with the huge line outside its doors. And man was the line huge, the wait alone was forty-five minutes. Not sure if he could wait that long in line for a restaurant he never ate at, he turned to the lady in front of him.

"Excuse me mama, have you ever eaten here before?" he asked.

She looked at him and smiled, "Yes, the food is extraordinary and well worth the wait not to mention that the service is fabulous. Trust me you'll enjoy it," she replied.

Harry decided that if he went anywhere else it would probably take just as long so he stayed and put his name on the waiting list. Due to the fact that he was by himself and no one in line wanted a table, Harry only had to wait ten minutes before he was sat. As he was looking over his menu when his waiter came over. However, due to the fact that Harry had the menu hiding his face he didn't see the waiter and the waiter couldn't see him.

"Welcome to the Grill and Bar, my name is Drake and I will be your server for today. May I start you off with something to drink?" Draco asked.

Harry thought the voice sounded vaguely familiar but couldn't place it. "I would like a dry martini please," he said.

"No problem. I'll be right back with that sir," Draco said.

"Thank you," Harry replied while he still pursued the menu for something to eat.

As Draco walked away he thought that the man's voice was very familiar but he couldn't seem to remember where he had heard it. While Draco was getting Harry's drink, Harry had moved the menu so that his face could be seen. As Draco was walking back with a tray of drinks for his tables and he noticed who it was sitting at table 69. He was so shocked that grip he had on the tray slipped and fell to the floor with a loud shattering sound as all the beverage filled glasses broke.

The shattering of glass had earned Draco the attention of most of the occupants of the restaurant including Harry. As Harry looked up to see what all the commotion was about, he was shocked to see none other than Draco Malfoy wiping up the spilled drinks and placing the pieces of broken glass on the tray. Harry found his voice and simply said, "Malfoy is that you?"

Before Draco could respond his boss cam over. "Drake what on earth is the meaning of this? You haven't dropped a tray of anything since your first week on the job. Well?" Todd reprimanded.

"Sorry boss! It…um…that is I lost my grip on the tray. I'll just finish cleaning up the mess and you can take the cost of the glasses out of my pay," Draco said quickly.

"You had better. And don't worry about the glasses I just want to make sure you didn't get a cut from the glass. Make sure you apologize to your tables for any delay," Todd said before he walked back over to the cash register to finish ringing out the customer he had been helping.

"Yes sir," Draco replied and finished cleaning up the mess he had caused.

Harry watched with a look of shock on his face as Draco finished cleaning up. The Draco Malfoy from his school days would never be cleaning up a mess he himself had caused. Nor would that said Draco Malfoy be caught dead in the muggle world or in a muggle establishment letting working in one. Was this really the Draco Malfoy he knew from all those years ago? And who would have thought that this whole time Malfoy had been in the muggle world, while everyone else thought he was dead, baffled Harry more. But this had to be Malfoy, it looked just like him, although this version was more fit, had longer hair, which was darker compared to blonde locks he remembered, and instead of the stormy icy silver eyes Harry remembered, this Draco had deep ocean sea blue eyes. But this had to be Malfoy because he sounded like the Malfoy Harry had remembered from school. Harry was almost positive that this was Draco Malfoy.

Harry came out of his thoughts and watched as Draco cleaned up. "Here um…Mal…Dra…Drake let me help you with that," he said bending down to help.

Without making any eye contact, Draco quickly replied, "No, sir I've got it. Your drink will be a bit delayed though."

"Look Draco just let me help you," Harry said as he grabbed a side of the tray to help but Draco just pushed his hands away and said he would manage. He didn't even look at Harry the whole time. Harry couldn't believe he had found Draco after all these years of thinking he was dead. Harry wanted to know what had happened to him and why he had fled. "Listen Drake when your shift is over maybe we can talk?" Harry asked.

Draco couldn't even bring himself to look at Harry. He finished picking up the broken glass and picked up the tray. Before turning to go back to the kitchen he said, "Thank you for offering your help sir. Please go back to your seat and I will be back with your drink shortly and to take your order."

About five minutes later Draco had brought all his drinks to his tables and was once again standing at Harry's table, pen out, ready to take Harry's order. "So, sir what would you like to eat?" he asked.

"I was thinking I would get a stake, cooked medium please with the mixed veggies and a baked potato. And I think that we really need to talk when your shift ends," Harry replied.

"Okay so you want a steak cooked medium with mixed veggies and a baked potato. Very well sir," Draco said and walked away to put in the order.

Harry sighed. Draco was acting like he didn't even know who Harry was. But Harry wasn't surprised, this was Draco Malfoy after all. He was hoping though that maybe he wasn't the same Draco Malfoy he had known in school.

Draco however, was in total shock. His long-time crush of twelve years was in the restaurant that he happened to work in. The only people that had known about his feelings toward Harry back then had been his godfather, who he hadn't spoken to since that night on the Astronomy Tower, and his best friend Blaise, who he hadn't spoken to since the beginning of his sixth year. Now that Harry had walked back into his life he was on overload. Sure, he had always wondered what was happening in Harry's life and the wizarding world but he could never go back there. Life there wasn't possible, not after what he did in sixth year. A loud BING brought Draco out of his thoughts. He looked up to see that the food for Harry was ready. Sighing, Draco grabbed the plate and walked out into the dining room.

The restaurant had died down quite quickly, just as quickly as the rush had begun. Draco only had another hour before his shift would be up and he already had made two hundred and fifty dollars in tips.

"Here is your steak sir," Draco said as he put the steak in front of Harry.

"Thank you. Draco will you please just talk to me? I know you know who I am," Harry said. But Draco ignored what Harry said and walked back into the kitchen.

"Hey Drake, your cut so, start your side work," Todd called for the office. Draco did as he was told. Draco managed to finish everything he was supposed to do within thirty minutes. All he had to do now was wait for Harry to pay his check. Draco walked back out to the dining area and up to Harry's table. "Excuse me sir, but my boss has cut the floor and I was wondering if you needed anything else?" Draco asked as he looked into those gorgeous green eyes for the first time that day.

"No just the check please," Harry replied.

"I'll be right back with that," Draco said and returned a few moments later with the bill.

Harry had decided that he would wait for Draco outside that way the blonde would have to talk to him. So, he paid and left.

Draco let out a sigh of relief when he saw that Harry was no longer there when he went to collect the bill. He went into Todd's office and gave him the money he owed. He was walking out the door when Todd's voice stopped him. "Drake can I have a word?"

"Sure boss, what's up?" Draco asked as a look of worry crossed over his features.

"Drake calm down I'm not firing you," Todd said with a laugh and Draco immediately relaxed. "What I want to talk to you about is vacation time," Todd said. "Now don't give me that '_I don't need a vacation_' bullshit. You have been working here for ten years and never taken time off. Quite frankly I think you need a vacation. So, you have the whole month of June off with pay and will return on the 6th of July. And there will be no buts about it. Your vacation starts tomorrow. So that gives you a month and a half off to enjoy yourself and relax. I don't want to see you back here till the sixth."

Draco was speechless. No one had ever been this kind to him before, besides his parents and godfather, since he had left the wizarding world behind.

"Now get your sorry arse home and you better come back looking refreshed. I expect to see a new person when you return," Todd said. Draco simply nodded and walked out of the office. A whole month and a half off, what was he supposed to do? Maybe a vacation was what he needed. He was in such a daze that he had not realized that he was being followed.


End file.
